I remembered the previous pickup Ian had done—me off of a garage floor—and my appetite wavered, but didn’t vanish. I was too hungry for even a near-death experience to ruin. “And a fee that was well earned and deserved,” I told him. “Want another?”
If Ian had gotten my reference—and I was sure that he had—he wasn’t going to bring it up, at least not now. That took considerate to a whole new level.
“I won’t turn it down,” he said. “We’re both going to need to tank up today.”
I stopped mid bite. “Aw, jeez. Can I at least eat one before you tell me who got slaughtered last night and how?”
“No one got slaughtered.”
I took a bite and gave a thumbs-up. “Score one for the humanoids.”
“At least not anyone that we’ve found. Ord sent me a message this morning via one of his pixies. Two more local dealers vanished last night. They had guards and they still got snatched.”
A lump formed in my throat. “Portal?”
Ian shook his head. “No stink.”
“But no bodies.”
“Not yet, but the day’s young.”
“Heard anything from Fred and the NYPD?”
“Not a thing.”
“Our people get any leads?”
“Still digging. Still nothing.”
I grinned. “Even though Ord sent you a pixie-gram to make nice, you still gonna kick his tiny ass for locking you out of his office?”
Ian answered around a mouthful of scone. “Seriously thinking about it.” He swallowed and drank some coffee. “I’ve also been thinking about a common denominator in all this, and I’ve found one.”
“Good. What is it?”
“It’s a who. A lawyer by the name of Alastor Malvolia.”
“Sounds goblin.”
“A lot of the best lawyers are. He’s Sar Gedeon’s lawyer—though now he’s the executor of his estate. He handles all legal matters for the Frontino and Báthory families, and he’s on retainer in one capacity or another with all of the other supernatural crime families.”
“Elves using a goblin lawyer?”
“Not one of his clients has ever been convicted. In fact, Al Malvolia’s been highly successful in countersuing any accusers—and winning most of the time.”
“And the other times?”
“The suit was dropped due to the lack of a plaintiff.”
“Lack as in gone?”
“Al’s known for making problems—and sometimes the people who cause those problems for his clients—go away. He’s a win-at-any-cost kind of guy.” Ian glanced at his watch. “We have a meeting with him at eleven o’clock. That gives you three hours to get up, shower, get dressed, and get moving. You feeling up to that?”
“Sure. That is, if Dr. Stephens is willing to cut me loose. If not, I can just pull a Bert and leave. Thankfully I don’t have any IVs to take out.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure, but are you? You actually want me to go with you?”
“I need the benefit of your new skill set.”
“How did you get a meeting with him?”
“I made an appointment.”
“As yourself? He knows you work for SPI?”
“He does. I made the appointment not only as an agent of SPI, but as a personal representative of Vivienne Sagadraco. I told her my theory, and she’s given me the green light to share any detail of the murder I need to in order to gain Malvolia’s cooperation. It’s in his best interests to help us in any way he can if he wants to keep representing living clients instead of handling dead clients’ estates.”
“I imagine he’s gonna be popular. First us, next the NYPD will come calling.”
“I’m sure they’d love to talk to him, but they can’t.”
“Why not?”
“They can’t find him. That’s the other reason why I need you to go. Let’s just say he doesn’t have a local address.”
* * *
I’d heard about pocket dimensions, but I never expected to find a high-powered goblin lawyer’s office in one. Though when I thought about it, what better place?
A pocket dimension is attached to a larger dimension, like a coat closet off of a ballroom. Though depending on the talent of the mage who did the construction, not all pockets are small. Like coat closets, pocket dimensions have a door—otherwise known as a portal. The big difference between the portal to Alastor Malvolia’s office and the two portals to Hell’s anteroom that I’d seen yesterday is an actual, physical connection. Malvolia’s office is in our dimension. Our dimension and Hell’s dimension, fortunately, aren’t next to each other.
Malvolia’s portal is permanent, like a door is permanent. However, it’s still invisible to those not keyed to it.
Neither Ian nor I were keyed to Malvolia’s office portal, but since we had an appointment, there would be someone there to escort us across. Ian wanted to know whether I could see it for myself. It’d be a test. If I could see the portal to this pocket dimension, I’d probably be able to see any and all kinds. That’d be great for SPI, but bad for me if people like Alastor Malvolia knew what I could do. If I could see the door to Al’s hidey-hole, I wouldn’t be making an announcement.
The goblin lawyer’s office on Park Avenue occupied the same space as a prominent Manhattan law firm.